The benevolent banner., 1887-10-08

hold to them all their days They are
ready to defend them on any and all
occasions. They are not, as a rule. de-
sirous of carefully examining into the
merits Of new doctrines and practices.
That farmers are generally very
bigoted In relation to matters that
pertain to agriculture, horticulture,
breeds of animals, the construction Of
buildings, the preference for imple-
ments and the management Of estates
is matter Of common observation,
The many articles written by farmers
that have recently been published in
relation to the cause of recent
droughts. show that the authors are
apparently more desirous of defend
ing certain theories than of getting at
what Artemas Ward was wont to call
''the true facts in the case" One
class Of these writers declare that the
drought of this and last season was
caused by the large amount of tile
draining that has been done during
the past few years. They state that it
has resulted in a diminished rainfall
over large extent of country, and in
reducing the quantity and quality of
crops on all the farms where the tiles
have been laid. They attempted to
prove the last proposition by observa-
tions on adjoining farms, some Of
which are tile-drained and some are
not. Another class of writer's de-
clares that tile-drainage exerts no
influence on rainfall, and is very
beneficial to crops during a season of
protracted drought. Like the others.
they defend their position by giving
the result of extended observations.
The controversy is much like that
which has long been waged in relation
to the value of trees in producing rain
and modifying the temperature Of the
atmosphere. People take sides" on
the matter as they do on political and
religious subjects. They are not
searching for truths. but for argu-
ments to support the theory they are
welded to and from which they never
desire to be divorced. II a man differs
from them in regard to the influence
of trees in producing rainfall and low
ering the temperature of the air durin Q
the winter they are likely to denounce
him as meteorological hereto, who
richly deserves to have his fields
parched during the summer and to
suffer with cold during the winter.
| The doctrine that the leaves Of forest
trees evaporate more water than the
leaves Of corn, and that the trees per-
form the same work that high eleva-
tons of land do in precipitating the
moisture in clouds, is preached with as
much positiveness as if it had been re-
ceived from Mount Sinai and then dem
onstrated by scientific experiment.
Still, neither revelation nor science has
declared that trees exert any great in
huence in increasing the fall of rain,
though they are of great value for
other purposes.
In the matter Of selecting a breed of
horses, cattle, sheep or pigs, farmers
show the same strong prejudice that
they exhibit in politics and religious
matters. There are Hereford and
shorthorn bigots among the cattle
men. Ayrshire, Jersey and Holstein
bigots among dairymen and Clydes-
dale and Norman bigots among the
breeders Of draft horses. They have
made up their minds that the animals
they are interested in are the best
of the kind, and they will not consider
the merits of others. They are as like
ly to lose their temper when rival
breed is praised as they are when
the soundness OF their political opin-
ion is called in question. An example
of bovine bigotry was afforded at the
late dairy exhibition in New York.
The admirers of the Channel Island
COWS offered a gold medal as a prize
for the animal whose milk for a given
number of hours would make the
most butter. On this medal was en-
graved a Jersey COW. But the COM
mittee awarded the prize to a Hol-
stein cow, and her owner carried to
his home a medal prepared as if no
cow of any breed could rival the Jersey
in the production of rich milk.
Political bigotry is harmless so far
as economic or pecuniary matters are
concerned. Such is not the case, no W
ever. with agricultural bigotry. 1t
stands in the way of success. 1t
blinds the eyes, stops the ears and pre-
vents the proper exercise of the judg-
ment. 1t even hinders a man from OBJ
tanning desirable and valualle infor-
nation. A bigoted person is not like
ly 10 want to obtain all the facts that
relate to the matter concerning which
he has made up his mind and an
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